Abstract
IN a paper, “Science and Reconstruction in Canada”, read at a joint session of the Royal Society of Canada at the University of Toronto on May 29, 1942, which has i now been reprinted, Prof. J. K. Robertson points out that in the industrial and social fields, the federal and provincial governments in Canada have already shown that they are aware of some of the urgent problems which will have to be met When victory comes. Referring to specific ways in which the services of the scientific worker are essential, Prof. Robertson instanced the increased use of Canada's coal deposits, particularly methods of utilizing coal at its source ; and the depletion of existing ore reserves and the desirability of discovering new sources of both old and new materials and developing new processes of extraction, for example, for magnesium. After speaking of the utilization of waste materials, such as natural gas, as a field for research, he referred to schemes intended to promote decentralization or dispersal of industry, the industrial utilization of farm products, and a general improvement in living conditions and in methods of farm operation through more available and cheaper power. Although in part economic questions, the practicability of such schemes depends largely on the work of the man of science. Again, in regard to the farm as a source of raw materials, the position of the plastics industry requires consideration in relation to agriculture. The soya bean, for example, is the raw material, not only for oil but also for a new cloth and for a plastic adhesive for plywood, while such materials as straw and cereal refuse might conceivably also find uses in the plastics industry.
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Science and Reconstruction in Canada. Nature 151, 444 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151444c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151444c0